1958

Sunday's meeting went very well and was followed by supper at a recommended restaurant in Ixtapa. Carol and I were joined by Elizabeth and Pat as shown in my photo below. All restaurants we passed had television screens showing the Super Bowl game for customers, so there was no escaping that, although I would've if I could've. The food did live up to recommendations which was appreciated by all.

Table conversation led to the revelation of a remarkable coincidence: Both Carol and Elizabeth were baptized, as youngsters of serious mind, at the 1958 International Convention of Jehovah's Witnesses in New York City. This convention now occupies a distinction of historic proportions for Jehovah's Witnesses. Delegates came from all over the world, by train, airplane, and ship for the eight-day event that unfolded simultaneously in both Yankee Stadium and The Polo Grounds. It has been called the largest religious convention ever.

Here is a photo of the Yankee Stadium crowd taken on the final day, a Sunday ...

 It was called, "Divine Will International Assembly of Jehovah's Witnesses," and ran from July 27th to August 3, 1958 with a combined attendance of 253, 922. On the final Sunday, permission was obtained to have temporary seating on Yankee Stadium's outfield, and one of the specks out there is me ... with no idea my future wife was also present and was already a baptized Witness for 4 days. Although I'm two years older than Carol my own baptism took another three years.

Over seven thousand persons were baptized on the Wednesday of this convention, and now I am privileged to know two of them.

The Yankee Stadium as seen in the above photo is long gone now but the original site exhibits a plaque commemorating the event as shown below ...

The following photo shows Frederick Franz speaking at this convention. The face in the background is of Nathan Knorr. These two speakers had outstanding skills in teaching the scriptures. I learned much of lasting value from their memorable talks in my younger years.

In other news, my recreational reading (if that's an appropriate term) has turned to a true story involving elephants. Past reading taught me that these are truly exceptional creatures who value a relationship with humans. If one befriends you, you may disappear for a decade or two and when you return the elephant will remember you. And an elephant who is your friend will, if necessary, perform courageous and self-sacrificing heroics on your behalf.

In this book's prologue the author describes his wonder at the mysterious sixth sense many African animals demonstrate. Even some plants do also, and he illustrates this with the acacia tree. If a giraffe or an antelope starts chewing on acacia leaves, the tree will send tannin into them making them taste bitter. Also the tree releases a scent into the air that warns other acacia trees, and they start sending tannin into their leaves too.

He asks the question, Since a tree has no brain why would it care about its neighbors safety and go to the trouble of signalling them? In fact, how could a brainless tree even know it has neighbors? The author's conclusion is that there are more things at work here than what a microscope reveals.

So far it's a fascinating read.